


Up in Smoke

by killerweasel



Category: Angel: the Series
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-06
Updated: 2012-12-06
Packaged: 2017-11-20 13:10:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/585695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/killerweasel/pseuds/killerweasel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes the good guys are worse than the bad guys.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Up in Smoke

This is for [](http://100moods.livejournal.com/profile)[**100moods**](http://100moods.livejournal.com/).

Title: Up in Smoke  
Fandom: Angel  
Characters: Lindsey McDonald, Cordelia Chase, Angel, Spike  
Prompt: 047. Grumpy  
Word Count: 1,653  
Rating: R  
Warnings/Spoilers: AU after _Not Fade Away_  
Summary: Sometimes the good guys are worse than the bad guys.

**Up in Smoke**

My eyes shot open when something sharp jabbed me in the leg. I groaned softly while trying to figure out why my chest hurt so damn much. _“I’ve heard you sing.”_ Bringing my hand up, I pressed it against the wounds since I could still feel blood soaking into my shirt.

“He needs your help, Lindsey. You’re going to get off your undead ass and go save his before he goes up in flames.”

I recognized the voice and tilted my head to glare at Cordelia. “Let him burn. Asshole murdered a member of his own damn team, he deserves what he gets.”

She kicked me again, jabbing me in the thigh with a very sharp heel. I swore loudly before making an attempt to grab her foot. That just pissed her off and the next kick was too close to a piece of my body that I wanted to keep whole. “The Powers brought you back, you owe them. And I got your blood under my nails in the process.”

Making a rude noise, I slowly got to my feet. There was a large smear of blood on the wall behind me that made my gut clench. I’d been dead and now I wasn’t. “They brought me back to save him. Why in the hell would they think I’d do that?”

The smile on Cordelia’s face wasn’t nice. She shoved me backwards, taking advantage of my shaking legs and bleeding wounds. “Because if you don’t, they’re going to send you to a place that makes the Wrath’s basement look like a paradise. You had a contract with Wolfram and Hart, remember?”

Shuddering, I turned away from her to stare at my blood on the wall. “I fucking hate higher beings. They’re just as bad as the Partners, not giving a shit about us lesser creatures. We bleed, suffer, and die for them and they don’t care. You want me to save him; you’d better give me a better reason than threatening to make me spend the rest of eternity in a hell dimension.”

She was quiet for a moment and then sighed. “If you go, they’ll let you stay as you are and you’ll be free of all your former ties to Wolfram and Hart. No one will come after you, no one will look for you, and you’ll have a chance to start a new life. Are you happy now?”

Was I happy? I had a couple of bullet wounds that went through my body, I was still bleeding, and I need to go save the life of the person that had mine taken away. “I’m a long way from happy, but I doubt they give a damn. Where is he and what do I need to do?”

I leaned back against the wall as she started to explain what had happened while I’d been dead. When she reached the bit about the dragon, I waved my hand. “Oh fuck no. I am not going up against a giant, pissed off flying lizard. I don’t care if I can’t die again. Have you ever dealt with a dragon? Of course you haven’t.”

“The Powers said you knew how to handle one. That’s why you’re back. Now go out the door and get your ass over to the hotel.” She grabbed my upper arm with more strength than I’d expected and almost dragged me out of the building.

Shrugging her off, I started to walk in the direction of Angel’s old hotel, muttering under my breath. “‘Go deal with the dragon, Lindsey.’ ‘You don’t want to end up in hell, Lindsey.’ ‘The world needs a Champion, Lindsey.’” I didn’t stop talking until I rounded the final corner. Then my jaw dropped.

Dead bodies littered the street. The Partners had unleashed one of their armies and Angel’s group had torn them to shreds. Part of me was glad I hadn’t been here to witness it first hand. Angel probably would have ‘accidentally’ cut my head off in the middle of the battle anyway. I stepped around pieces of dead demons and avoided the ones that hadn’t quite joined their friends yet.

That’s when I spotted the back end of the dragon. The front half was currently buried inside of the building and there was no way it would be getting loose without assistance. Bending down, I grabbed the closest sword and walked towards what used to be the entrance. This was not going to be fun.

As I came closer, I could hear Angel inside, yelling at something and it took me a minute to understand exactly what he was saying. At first it sounded like ‘give me back my egg’ and then I realized it was ‘give me back my _leg_ ’. Yeah, like the dragon was going to do that. Consider it gone, you gel-brained jackass.

There was a hole in the wall to the right of the dragon’s body, so I stuck my head through and peered inside. The former street thug was in very bad shape with his body propped against the wall. I only knew he was still alive because I heard him say Angel’s name. Spike was lying on the floor, clutching his damaged arm to his chest. As for Angel, he was directly in front of the dragon’s head. Looked like the thing had eaten his leg just below the knee and I could see smoke starting to rise from its nostrils. If it let loose a fireball, they were all screwed.

I took the sword and sliced open my palm with it, flexing my fingers to really get the blood flowing. Then I reached out and pressed it against an open wound on the dragon’s side. It let out a shriek before going very still. I’d only done something like this once before and that dragon had been a lot older than the one I was touching now. The key thing was that they never understood what you were saying unless you mixed some of your blood with their own. “Look buddy, you really don’t want to cook them. If you do, then I’ll be forced to kill your scaly butt, and I don’t think either of us wants that.”

The dragon attempted to pull itself loose from the wall, but didn’t manage to budge an inch. _“Vlam kill! Vlam destroy! Vlam eat puny creatures!”_

“Lindsey, what the hell is it saying? All I can hear are growls and hisses.” Angel’s voice sent the dragon into a rant about how powerful it was and how as soon as it got loose than it would eat them all.

“Angel, you need to shut up. Vlam? You’re stuck in the wall. See the other vampire, the one giving you the evil eye? He’s going to come over and cut your damn head off while you cook the one in front of you and you’re not going to be able to get away. Or you can listen to me for a few minutes and get out of here alive. It’s your choice.”

I felt it fidget underneath my palm. _“Trapped! Want to be free! Want to fly! Wing hurt. Human fix.”_

Bringing my free hand up, I gently slid it along the wing near my face. When I felt blood on my fingertips, I quickly found the source of the wound. “There’s a piece of the door pinning you down. I’m going to have to climb up and pull it loose, and then you’ll be able to back out. But I’ll only do it if you let them live. Otherwise, you can stay stuck.”

He let out the most depressed sound I’d heard in ages. _“Want to go home. This game no fun. Vlam hurt. Vlam bleeding. Nasty vampire hurt me. Bad vampire.”_

“Yeah, he’s a pain in the ass. Now hold still, I’ll work on fixing your wing.” After pulling my hand away from the wound, I carefully climbed up Vlam’s body. It took me a little while to get him loose, mainly because I didn’t want to cause any more pain. The moment I finished, he jerked backwards, sending me tumbling towards the ground.

Just as I was about to slam into the sidewalk, Vlam caught me in his mouth. I could feel razor-sharp teeth slowly sinking into my flesh before he set me on the ground. Getting to my feet, I gave him a grin and watched as he flapped his wings a few times. It was obvious that one of them was damaged, but it seemed to be able to hold his weight. Vlam shot a massive gout of fire into the air and took off with a screech, leaving me bleeding in the doorway.

I limped inside of the hotel and headed towards where Gunn was resting. His wounds were nasty, but as long as he had medical attention soon, he’d probably make it. I checked on Spike next, who swore at me when I tried to look at his arm. “Fine, be a big baby. Not like you won’t heal anyway.”

Rolling my eyes, I focused on Angel. “Will that kill you?” I nudged his bad leg with my foot, making him snarl something at me. “No? That’s too damn bad. I’m going to take your friend to a healer I know since he doesn’t have time for modern medicine. Then I’m leaving. But I want you to know, if I hadn’t come to save your ass, you’d all be dead. Think about that the next time you plan on killing someone, asshole.”

Half an hour later, I’d hot-wired a car, dropped Gunn off with a demon healer, and was on the highway heading east. My body ached in more places than I could count, but the wounds were healing. Angel was probably pissed off that I’d saved him and that really made me smile. The future suddenly seemed a whole lot brighter.


End file.
